Students Develop Green Products
05/01/2008
Students Develop Green
Products in a Joint Course with the Business
School
In the Spring of 2008, a new course on Integrated Product Development was launched as a joint venture between the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Graduate School of Business. It is a revolutionary course which simulates current practice in industry where business and engineering go hand-in-hand in new product development.
As part of Columbia University's green initiative, 18 students (11 MBA and 7 graduate engineers) formed three teams and were challenged to develop exercise equipment which can harness human energy. Within just a few short months, students developed innovative ways of harnessing this energy.Each team developed its own unique design, produced working prototype, and marketing & business plan. Currently, arrangements are being made to further study these prototypes so that they may be implemented on a campus-wide scale.
It is a unique chance to gain hands-on experience on business and engineering issues for those students who want to choose product development as a career. The students are given full autonomy to design, manufacture and market their products under the careful guidance of Professors Vijay Srinivasan and Rajeev Kohli who have decades of experience in this field.It is an opportunity not to be missed!